This invention relates to animal or poultry feeding systems in which a pulverant, fluent feed is conveyed to a series of feeding stations where it is dispensed for chickens (or other animals or birds) to eat, and, more particularly, to a feed intake unit to which the feedstock is delivered and from which it is conveyed.
Poultry feeding systems are well-known in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,850,370; 4,460,230; 4,003,339; 3,971,340; 3,598,087; 3,415,228; and 3,230,933. As shown in these representative patents, feedstock from a bulk feed tank or the like is delivered to an intake hopper. From the hopper, the feed is delivered to a conveying means which services a number of feeding stations. In large poultry houses, one of these conveying means may have a length of up to 400 feet and there may be 200-300 or so of the feeding stations. The feed is conveyed, usually by means of an auger, in a feed conveyor tube extending through each of the feed stations. The auger may either be rotary driven or axially propelled within the tube to convey the feed from the intake hopper and from feeder to feeder. Feed is deposited from the conveying means into feed pans of the feeders located at each station for subsequent consumption by the birds.